For Other Small Breeders - A business question

[Blue Apple Herps]

Sounds like a scam written all over it. I only ship until AFTER all and any funds have cleared. I bet his "partner's" check would have bounced to the moon. I would have politely told him that I could and would only ship until after the check had been cashed and cleared and that this could take a couple of weeks. If he insisted on shipping, I would have just told him he's going to have to wait until the check clears; no ifs ands or buts.

But in the end, they're your snakes and you produced them and shouldn't sell them to someone you don't feel comfortable with. I've turned away potential buyers just because it seemed to me I'd be sending my animals to a negligent home or something. In the end, I think you were right in not selling to him.

[Morphie]

In the future I would set policies up and follow them with no exceptions. Having policies set up eliminates all the guesswork and stress associated with trying to judge a persons trust worthiness over the internet.

I couldn't agree more!!

[West Coast Jungle]

Jane, I think you did the right thing. Why couldn't the partner deposit the $ in the paypal account? I never like to ship after Wed. either, it just isn't worth it. Whenever one party is pressuring or pushing the deal TOO quickly it is usually because they are pulling a fast one. Following your gut usually steers you in the right direction.

[wolfy-hound]

If there was no payment, I'd either call the entire deal off, or tell him he had to wait to recieve snakes until you had ALL money in hand before shipping.
Once you have FULL payment, then you can work out when he can recieve the snakes, and I would tell him you ONLY ship mon-weds, so as not to risk the snakes.
If he doesn't want to do it your way, tell him to buy elsewhere.
And low-ballers usually are problems. Especially when they offer ridiculously low prices. I had someone offer to pay me $700 for my VISABLE PIED female. He then informed me that HE could get them at that price at the local show. I told him that I was glad that he would be able to purchase a pied at his local show, as he certainly wasn't going to get MINE for that price.
You go!

[Brimstone111888]

Careful with paypal, they notoriously side with the buyer. Its not hard to get your money back from them, which will leave you with half the money and him with the snakes.

[janeothejungle]

Luckily there was no money that changed hands. The commitment was to pay by the end of the week and I terminated the deal early. All has been quiet thus far, still waiting for the response to my polite 'thanks but no thanks' back out.

Cheers,
Kat

[Ginevive]

I do not like the fact that he wanted you to ship the snakes before the cold, hard cash was in your hands. Sounds like a rubber check, maybe? The kind that bounces I think that you're lucky to be done with this deal. Yes, Paypal is great for buyers.. but I really don't like it that much after hearing what a friend went through. He sold an eBay item to someone out of the country.. they paid Paypal. And then after they received the item, they complained that the seller my friend, never shipped it. And openly emailed my friend telling him this. They ended up with the item and the money.. (my friend gave up eBay and is now a forensics photographer.. go figure!)
Kudos to you for nipping this one in the bud. Even if the funds were all there.. rushing you to ship is uncalled for.

[rbchesapeakeball]

Kat,

IMHO you have the right to sell your snakes to someone you fell comfortable with, if you feel uneasy with the deal or person, you have the right to cancel the sale.

Rich

[Sputnik]

They are your animals, it's your responsibility to ensure a decent home for them as best you can If you feel uncomfortable as to where "your" animals are going, you have the right to put their welfare first and continue or end a deal if someone is giving you bad signals.... if you have been around the hobby long enough, you just know where bad signals are taking you!

[janeothejungle]

UPDATE:

So after the initial cancelation, the buyer sent me an "oops, I didn't mean the 17th, I meant the 24th for shipping" email and stated that if I would just get back in touch, he was sorry for the confusion and the deal could be back on. I declined again stating politely that I was not going to be doing any business with him." His final response to me was "Good Luck!" meant sarcastically or not, I have no idea.

So I repost the snakes for sale/trade with the tagline that the 'deal fell through' since it sounded better than " The shady buyer creeped me out and I terminated the deal." And today I get this email....
------------
NOTE: This message was sent to you via the Kingsnake.com Classifieds. If you feel this message is fraudulent or abusive please forward it to classifieds@pethobbyist.com.
*************

LIES COME BACK TO HAUNT YOU. THE DEAL DIDN'T FALL THROUGH...YOU CANCELLED IT AFTER WE AGREED TO A PRICE AND MONEY WAS BEING SENT. MORE THAN LIKELY BECAUSE YOU GOT A BETTER OFFER.

IT'S YOUR REPUTATION...HOPE IT WAS WORTH IT!

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As a disclaimer, no money ever changed hands or was 'sent'. I'm sorely tempted to post a seller beware on the BOI on fauna. So the question is.... would you? or would you let it ride?

Cheers,
Kat